CHAPTER 15
The energy is buzzing in the large SUV we’re riding in. My brothers and I are taking up the middle seat and I fight the need to smirk because the lesser Guidice brothers are all in the third row. They’d probably want to kick my ass for calling them the lesser brothers, but right now I don’t have it in me to care.
We’ve gone over the plan while the layout for the warehouse where Viola is being held was passed around on a tablet. We’ve all checked our weapons and I’m itching to get there so I can take out as many of Martinez’s men as possible and get the girl.
“They might be using the automatic assault rifles I sold them,” I hate the words as I say them, but everyone needs to know what we might be going up against.
“We’ll have surprise on our side. They think we have no idea where Viola is,” Dante reminds us from the front seat as Tony drives us closer to our destination.
Marco leans forward slightly and asks the question which has been burning in my mind, “How do you know where she is?”
Dante glances back and gives a devilish curl of his lips. “Trackers in her jewelry.”
Marco sits back and blows out a breath. “Does she know about the trackers?”
Leonardo scoffs from the third row, “Of course she knows. She’d hand us our asses if we had trackers on her she didn’t know about. She only agreed to it because they aren’t on all the time or monitored.”
“Maybe we should have been monitoring them more often,” Dante grumbles from the front seat. He looks back at me and my brothers. “Where did you meet Viola?”
“That’s a question I won’t be answering,” I respond coolly.
I’ve already fucked up with Viola. I’m not going to share her secret with her brothers. She has every right to go to Club Sin.
The memory of me calling her a whore, just a few days ago, has my stomach knotting up. I should have never used the knowledge I have against her. It makes me no better than Martinez and his men.
I’ve become a man I’m not very proud of in some ways. For what?
I’ve now aligned myself with the family I always saw as the enemy because I need Viola in my life.
I’ve realized how much I risked, and I’d rather have our woman in my arms than money and power. It’s quite a revelation and it came just a little bit too late.
I can only hope there’s enough time to repair the damage I’ve done and to get Viola to accept me, my apology and us. I want her in our lives. I need her in our lives.
I don’t even know when it happened. It wasn’t all at once, I don’t think. Or maybe it was, and I was just too blind to see it.
I know something changed the night we spent together at Club Sin, but I was too intent on going forward with the plan and using her to get what I’ve been focused on for so fucking long. Too fucking long.
We stop the vehicle in the industrial area surrounding the warehouse and file out silently. My heart starts racing and adrenaline starts to course through my veins. We’re so fucking close to getting Viola back.
For the first time in a very long time, I’m afraid of what we’re going to find tonight. I don’t know what state she’s going to be in. I hate the fear curling along my skin, but I can’t shake it off. Not yet. Not until she’s safe and back in my arms.
“No matter what we find when we get her, we’ll deal with it,” Massimo assures me in a whisper as we move toward the warehouse.
I look at him, gratefulness bubbling up inside of me for my youngest brother. He really is the best of us.
I’m not surprised Martinez doesn’t have anyone guarding the front of the warehouse. The man is overly confident, and it will be his downfall. Dante stays with me and my brothers to breach the front while the others and Tony go around to come in from the back.
I give Dante a nod and step forward, ready to go in. I can tell by the look in his eyes that he wants to be the first one through the door, but this is our woman and my fuck-up I need to fix. I’m going in first.
Dante eases back a little bit, giving me the room, and with it, it feels like, a little bit of his blessing. I have no doubt it won’t be easy to gain his trust, but as long as we get Viola’s love it’ll be worth the effort.
I kick the door open, and we enter the building, crouching down low and moving along the walls as the sounds of shouting fill up the space. Every one of Martinez’s men are brought down as we move forward as a unit. We aren’t shooting to maim, not tonight. We’re shooting to kill.
The walls of the warehouse are rusted, and it smells like mold. Knowing our woman is in here makes my skin crawl.
When we get around the crates near the front part of the warehouse, the middle of the room is wide open. There’s a man standing over Viola. She’s strapped to a chair in the middle of the room. He aims and Marco pulls me back behind the last crate, making sure I have some cover, as the man fires.
I can still see the image of Viola, her eyes wide with surprise when she saw me. It’s burned into my mind. A few more shots ring out and I peek around the edge of the crate to find the last of Juan’s men bleeding out on the floor.
Viola spits on the man who is laying next to her chair and pledges to a dead man, “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you still lose your hands just like you lost your life.”
My dick fucking jumps in my pants as I walk around the crate and head straight for our woman, my brothers flanking me. I hardly spare a glance at the carnage around us. I only have eyes for the woman in front of me.
I drop to my knees in front of her chair as my brothers pull out knives and get to work at cutting away her bindings. Everything ceases to exist as her dark eyes study me. I have a feeling she didn’t think we would come for her, and it guts me.
Her voice is shaky, none of the sass I just heard when threatening a dead man present, “What are you doing here?”
I cup her face in my hands and press my forehead against hers, not caring about the warm blood seeping into the fabric of my pants. “I’m here for you, il nostro cuore,” I confess. “I’m sorry for the things I said. I didn’t mean any of them. I knew the moment you walked out the door that I had made a terrible mistake. It’s not easy for me to say I’m sorry or admit when I’m wrong.” She snorts and I find my lips curving into a smile. “But for you,” I take a deep breath, “I want to try because you deserve a million apologies and to be worshiped.”
Viola’s arms wrap around my shoulders, and she clings to me as if she’s trying to soak up some of my strength. I have plenty to share. She can have as much as she needs.
Massimo’s voice is soft and full of concern, “Are you okay?”
Marco sounds like a fucking puppy, “Why do we need to cut off this bastard’s hands?” His voice drops to a whisper, “That was sexy as fuck, il nostro cuore.”
“I’m okay,” she whispers. She clears her throat, her voice coming out stronger. “They didn’t break me. Juan threatened to sell me,” she shudders in my arms as she confesses what the bastard said to her. “I promised the man laying in his own blood next to me that I would make sure his hands got cut off after he touched me.”
I growl, the sound feral and unhinged, at the thought of anyone putting their hands on our woman. “I’ll cut off his hands myself,” I vow as I pull back and look into Viola’s eyes.
She smiles at me like my promise is akin to being flirted with. Marco chuckles and curses under his breath, “Damn, she’s perfect.”
“She is,” I whisper.
The only thing that stops me from kissing her until neither one of us can breathe is the sound of a throat clearing behind me. I stand up slowly and pull Viola up to stand before I tuck her into my side. I could lie and say it’s to keep her steady, but it’s really because I need to touch her.
Marco flanks our woman on her other side after we’ve turned around to face Dante and the rest of the Guidice brothers while Massimo presses against her back. She’s surrounded by her men, just like she should be.
“Juan escaped,” Dante growls, but I can see the glint of a future hunt in his eyes.
“He’ll pop his head up out of the ground and when he does, we’ll handle it,” Leonardo says with a smirk.
“We’ll help,” I tell the Guidice men, knowing I can no longer view them as enemies. Does this mean we’ll be best friends? I doubt it, but I no longer feel the need to beat them. Not when I have the real prize in my arms.
Dante’s eyes soften as he looks at his sister. Before he can pepper her with questions she confirms, “I’m okay. I took a few punches and slaps and this one,” she waves her hand at the man who is still laying in a pool of his own blood, and then points to another man a few feet away, “and that one touched me, but that was it. It’s over.” She smiles at her brothers. “I knew you’d find me.”
“Bet you didn’t think we’d have the triplets with us,” Giovanni ribs her and I smirk at the way our woman’s cheeks pink.
Dante gives Viola a pointed look. “You have some explaining to do, but,” he sighs loudly, “I can’t deny that your men are loyal. And they had the balls to drive right to the front door of my home and tell me you’re their woman.”
Viola’s head snaps around and she looks up at me, her eyes wide. I nod slowly, telling her that her brother’s words are true. I’ve already apologized, but I’m not under any illusions that I won’t have to do it again. And again. And again. I fucked up and I own it, but I’ll make it up to her.
Dante stares at his sister and then surprises the fuck out of me. “Do you want to go with them or with us?”
Leonardo, Rocco, and Giovanni make sounds of protest, but Dante looks at them sharply. I find myself holding my breath while waiting for her answer.
“I’m going to go home with the triplets,” she tells her brother softly.
He nods and then steps forward to kiss her forehead. “We’ll talk about this more, but you know all I ever want is for you to be happy.”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
Dante steps back and gives me a warning look before bestowing the same on my brothers. “Your car is waiting out front for you.”
I give a nod, not even needing to ask how our car got here. It doesn’t matter how. I lead Viola away from the carnage and the stench of death, needing to get her home. I need to pamper her and show her just how sorry I am. I can only hope it’s enough.
Just as we’re about to weave our way back through the crates, Viola turns around and calls out, “Rocco.” Her youngest brother’s head snaps around and he arches an eyebrow in question. She points to the man on the floor. “Cut off his hands for me, will you?”
Rocco grins and I can’t help but chuckle as I continue to lead our woman out of the warehouse. I have a feeling it’ll be nothing more than ash by the time the Guidice family is done with it. I can’t find it in me to care.
The drive home is quiet, all of us lost in our own thoughts as we process the events of the day. It’s been a lot and I’m grateful as hell it turned out the way it did. It could have gone terribly wrong.
It didn’t, but it could have.
When we get back home, I guide Viola upstairs and into my room, my brothers not protesting when I do. They know I need to repair what I broke days ago. I don’t stop until we’re standing in my bathroom, and I love the way Viola looks around at the space with appreciation in her gaze.
I start the shower and then strip, tossing my clothes in the garbage, before I step toward our woman. “Can I undress you, Viola? Will you let me show you how sorry I am? I need to take care of you,” I confess.
I don’t entirely understand where the need to pamper her comes from, but I know I need it.
“Mateo,” she sighs. Fear fills me for an entirely different reason now. Her hands come up and cup my face as she looks into my eyes. “Are you truly sorry for what you said?” I nod. “Your words hurt me,” she pauses, and I swear my heart is going to pound out of my chest, “but I’m going to let you make it up to me.”
I practically rip the clothes from her body before I lift her into my arms and step into the shower, the warm water feeling like a baptism. This is where we get to start fresh. This is where we get to put the past behind us.
“Thank you, il nostro cuore,” I whisper against her lips before I set her down. “I’ll cherish this chance you’re giving me.”
I wash every inch of her body, my hands gliding over her skin and leaving bubbles behind in their wake. Her body responds to my touch so fucking beautifully and my cock is begging to be buried deep inside of her. Only when she’s clean, and I am as well, do I lift her and press her against the wall of the shower.
Her legs wrap around my waist and my cock probes the entrance of her pussy. “I need you to fill me with your cock,” she pleads, and I can’t help but grin at her.
“Whatever you need,” I rasp right before I thrust upward and fill her completely.
“I was hoping you would come, but I wasn’t sure,” I hate the bite of pain in her voice even as she pants, and I move in and out of her wet heat. “You and your brothers were my happy place; the place I knew I could go and never be broken.”
I slam my lips down on hers, my hips moving faster and powering into her harder. The need to feel her squeeze my length is riding me hard, the knowledge of how close to danger she was because of me, making me feel desperate.
“Come on my cock,” I grunt against her lips.
It’s as if my words give her freedom to fly because she tightens down on my shaft as she tips over the edge, her face a mask of pleasure. I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight in all my life.
“You are ours,” I moan as my orgasm has my balls drawing up and fire racing through my veins. “Our heart.”
She might not realize it yet, but we’re never letting her go.